Nick of Time

The shower and visit a week and half ago to the great north-west came just in the nick of time! Sarah gave birth to her new daughter, Noel Elizabeth Fritzgerald, one short week after I left! From what I can tell, it was a smooth delivery as well as a quick one. I received a text message last Sunday morning during church saying she was on her way to the hospital because her water broke. Later that evening I received another text message with a little photo attached of her with Noel sleepin' on her chest. Technology is so amazing! Here they both are in their glowing beauty!

Momma and Noel both tired from their journey together!
Noel, head to toeFinally face to face

Family shot- Daddy Stephen, daughter Noel,
and mommy Sarah probably calling family back in Ohio...

I'm still in disbelief that one of my friends now has a daughter and I got to see the process from beginning to end. I remember the day when Sarah told me she was preggers- we were in a little cafe in LA meeting for our usual favorite morning coffee time together. We were both complaining about how life in LA was getting to us. I jokingly suggested that she get pregnant 'by accident' and then maybe Stephen would consider moving to a less hectic city for the baby. She paused and said something like 'actually...I am pregnant!' I was shocked yet excited for her! Months later I got to join Sarah and Stephen in Ohio with Sarah's family for Thanksgiving. By that point she was starting to show. From that point on until my Vancouver trip I followed along with their blog to watch her progress. What a blessing to be able to see her just a week before she gave birth! My praises to God continue...

Frabric of Friends

This past weekend I got to fly out to Portland, OR/ Vancouver, WA to surprise one of my best friends Sarah with a baby shower. Two other bestest good friends of mine, Andrea and Jess, also flew in from Los Angeles. We all met in LA a few years ago, so this reunion since my move from LA in November and Sarah's (and her husband Stephen) move shortly after, was a delight.

The three of us managed to fly in around the same time and were secretly picked up by Stephen who had arranged to meet Sarah on his lunch break to pick out fabric for recovering some chairs. We hid in the back of the Fabric Depot, a massive warehouse of deeply discounted fabric. Sarah eventually made it to the back of the store to see a few choices Stephen had 'picked out'. We were hiding in a few isles and completely shocked her! She just stood there saying 'What are you doing?!' and eventually said 'Why are you here?!', it was so great! She is very pregnant and looking so cute and beautiful.

The weekend was great overall- we all got to pitch in and help assemble their newly almost completely remodeled house to get it ready for the shower we were having for her the next day. We pulled it together! Here are a few pics from the weekend...

The living room during the shower that was nearly empty when we arrived!

Me and Andrea after some tasty gelato in downtown Portland

Papa Stephen with his new 'Boppy' thing

Window seat views courtesy of American Airlines' clear windows

Wardrobe change during Sarah's pregnancy photo session

She's due May 5!

The Holy Hotties formerly of Los Angeles- Andrea, Jen, Sarah, and Jess

Sleepin stripes

The Little Yellow House on the Prairie...minutes from a Starbucks, but out far enough to have several el paca farms and horses nearby...

Where I'm at

Sarah, this is for you and for those who don't live nearby!

Here's a little photo tour of where I work and the surrounding area of downtown Royal Oak, MI.

Below: For some reason these photos don't show up that clear...sorry...here's our office front at Genesis the Church- our door is in between the cafe and ink shop- our offices are all on the 2nd floor- that's our green and black sign by the 2nd floor windows (click on the picture to get a big zoomed view).

Below: Here's a different angle of the street our offices are on- 5th Ave. Lofts are the new thing here- there's a monstrous bunch going up as you can see...or maybe they're just apartments...I don't know...Below: Inside our offices- this one is my little corner desk area

Below: My office mates' desks- Beau and Rob (no one was here this morning)Below: The other room- Stefanie and Drew's room
Below: The Conference Room or multipurpose room or rehearsal room or the eating room or the copy/ office supply room.
Below: An opposite view of the conference room


Below: Downtown Royal Oak, a buncha shots...(We're still waiting on the leaves-- a couple weeks to go! The grass is green in some parts though, so we've got that going for us.)

Holy Hotty Hustle

I'm back. I was on blog-cation.

Yesterday Kelly and I ran the Martian 1/2 Marathon, which started at the University of Michigan Dearborn campus and lead us through Hines Park- out and back. It was a great run! I won the entire race finishing in 1 hour and 25 minutes. Ha. Nope. Try almost doubling that. It was a great great time (my official time was 2:24)- we had a nice cheering squad- complete with posters and a few fine gentlemen to escort me near the finish line (my brother and dad hopped in for a sec to lead me home!). Check out the pics below- thanks to family, Michelle, Amanda, and Miguel for their race day support!

I love the whole race atmosphere, I especially love the eerie silence of the last few miles of a race - on the section of the course where fans can't get to. I heard this silence between songs on my iPod. The runners are more spread out than earlier, people are starting to really feel the burn. Muscles, joints, and whole body parts are starting to fail you as the repetitive motion of running begins be a problem.

Last October, I ran the Chicago Marathon. My first one. Now that experience is one of the best I've ever had in my life so far. What was feared to be a stressful weekend of flying in from LA, arranging rides without a car, meeting up with people in different parts of the city, finding food that my body needed, adjusting to the time difference, and oh freaking out that I was about to run 26.2 miles after being horribly sick about 2 weeks earlier with some nasty version of strep throat that included my entire throat being in massive pain and nearly swollen shut from the big ugly white sores...needless to say, that weekend in Chicago was ...incredible. God really provided for me on so many levels. I had great places to stay, great friends taking care of me, great fans to cheer me on, and best of all- an AMAZING race experience. I had to hold back the tears for several portions of the race as I totally felt blessed that day (It's hard to run and cry- takes up lots of energy and air!). (Notice my dad running behind me!)

A Holy Hotty, Kelly- my training buddy!Genesis crew- me, Miguel, Michelle, Amanda, and Kelly

P.S. It was suppose to thunderstorm on race day- thanks God for not a drop! (Thanks to my prayer folks too!)